Annual mineral production statistics in Canada by province and territory can be found under the Minerals and Metals Sector area of the Natural Resources Canada website. Monthly statistics are located here.

The Mining Association of British Columbia (MABC), founded in 1901, speaks on behalf of mineral and coal producers and advanced development companies involved in the exploration, development and smelting of minerals in British Columbia, Canada.

The Association for Mineral Exploration (AME), founded in 1912, promotes a healthy environment and business climate for the mineral exploration industry. It is regarded as the predominant voice of mineral exploration and related issues in British Columbia.

The products of the mining industry help build the highways,electrical and communications networks,housing, automobiles, consumer electronics and other products and infrastructure essential to modern life.

The Major Projects Management Office (MPMO) is a Government of Canada organization whose role is to provide overarching project management and accountability for major resource projects in the federal regulatory review process, and to facilitate improvements to the regulatory system for major resource projects.

The BC Ministry of Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resources has created a number of recreational panning reserves around the Province that are open to the general public to use for recreational gold panning.

To obtain a list of maps for gold panning areas in the province visit: Recreational Panning Reserves page on the Ministry of Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resources website.

To find information related to mineral titles in BC visit Mineral Titles Online. Mineral Titles Online (MTO) is an Internet-based mineral titles administration system that allows mineral exploration industry to acquire and maintain a mineral titles by selecting the area on a seamless digital GIS map of British Columbia and pay the associated fees electronically.

The Mineral Titles office administers the laws and manages the recording system pertaining to the acquisition and maintenance of mineral, placer and coal rights in the province. The Ministry maintains records and maps which indicate areas available for location and acquisition of title as well as the location and status of mineral and coal titles acquired under the Mineral Tenure Act and Coal Act.

A tailings storage facility (TSF) is a structure made up of (one or more dams) built for the purposes of storing the uneconomical ore (ground up rock, sand and silt) and water from the milling process.

Tailings storage facilities are similar to conventional dams and they are subject to similar technical guidelines but serve different purposes. They are also regulated by different government agencies and under separate pieces of legislation.

Tailings, ground up rock (uneconomical ore after processing) plus water, are contained in the TSF. The composition of the tailings will vary depending on the composition of the rock in the surrounding environment and the process of mineral extraction used at each mine.

TSFs are regulated in BC by the Ministry of Energy & Mines under the Mines Act[1] and the Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines in British Columbia[2] (HSRC). The HRSC includes the requirement to use the Canadian Dam Association Dam Safety Guidelines[3].

The CDA guidelines are comprehensive design guidelines that include a Consequence of Failure classification. Dams are rated according to the potential effect of failure and dams are assigned risk ratings of low, medium, high, very high or extreme. Design guidelines vary by the risk rating.

Many mining companies in BC also use the Towards Sustainable Mining Tailings Management Protocol and Guides[4] in managing their operations.

The provincial government through the Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines in British Columbia (HSRC), requires:

Tailings dams are inspected annually, Dam Safety Inspection (DSI), with reports submitted to and reviewed by the Chief Inspector of Mines

Dam Safety Reviews are required every five years for dams with a significant, high, very high or extreme classification. These reviews are comprehensive and follow the Association of Profession Engineers of BC (APEG BC) Guidelines[1] and the Canadian Dam Association (CDA) Guidelines.

All TSFs are required to have an Operational, Maintenance and Surveillance (OMS) Manual that prescribes the responsibilities of all parties associated with the tailings dam and documents dam safety procedures for monitoring and response to monitoring.

Tailings dams are designed to meet specifications to withstand very low probability events, such as floods and earthquakes.

Dam break analysis and inundation studies are primarily used to inform the emergency preparedness and response planning and the dam classification. The dam classification is then used to inform the design specifications.

They are based on hypothetical scenarios not connected to probability of occurrence. Any imaginable cause of failure, which has a probability greater than zero, is considered.

For example, a dam with an extreme classification would be required to withstand an earthquake with a magnitude that has a probability of 0.0001% chance of occurring. However, the dam break analyses may assume this event could occur as a “hypothetical event” in the interest of being conservative when it comes to emergency preparedness and response planning.